CH 27

Chapter 27: Sachet

Yinyou didn’t expect that it wasn’t the eighth brother or the fifth brother who came to find him first, but the young thirteenth brother, Yinxiang.

He came dressed like a lucky boy, followed by two eunuchs, looking like a little adult, and Yinyou couldn’t help but laugh when seeing him.

“Seventh brother,” said Yinxiang, who was only seven years old. Since Kangxi pampered him, he was relatively innocent and he didn’t notice that Yinyou was secretly laughing at him, “E-Niang told me to go with you, so there was someone to take care on the way.”

“Oh! Does the thirteenth brother want to take care of his elder brother?” Yinyou smiled as he tugged little guy’s rosy cheeks. 

The thirteenth brother’s status among the princes was not low, but Yinyou felt that there was something unspeakable strange. The ex-girlfriend in his previous life was very into qingchuan [1] novels. She knew who among these elder brothers and sisters was more favored and studied the relationships between the royal family even more seriously than her thesis. If he remembered correctly, his girlfriend once said that the thirteen brother’s mother, Zhang Jia-shi was in fact, not very favored, and even as a concubine she was only conferred the title of Consort [2] after death, but now it was only the 32nd year of Kangxi, and Zhang Jia-shi had been promoted to the title of Noble Concubine. However, it may be that his memory was wrong. All these years, he was not interested in which concubine was favored. Anyway, those beauties were not his own.

[1] 清穿 qīngchuān. Fiction novels where the protagonist transmigrates to the Qing Dynasty. This novel has this etiquette in the Chinese title.

[2] 妃 fēi Consort. In the real Chinese history, according to Wikipedia: “Concubine Min died in Wulong Pavilion in Beihai. In July of that year, the Kangxi Emperor instructed the Minister of Ritual to promote Concubine Min to Consort Min (敏妃) posthumously. (...) On the twenty-sixth of the first month of the first year of Yongzheng, Emperor Yongzheng instructed the ministry of rites to posthumously appoint Consort Min as Dowager Imperial Noble Consort (皇考皇贵妃).” So in reality, Zhang Jia wasn’t favored, but in this novel she is.

“Seventh brother, it hurts.” The thirteenth protected his face from the strange uncle, and grabbed the corner of Yinyou’s clothes, “Seventh brother, I will tell the fourth brother that you bullied me.” 

“Complain?” Yinyou reached out to poke under the thirteenth brother’s armpit, and the child couldn’t help giggling, Yinyou poked again, and the thirteenth brother threw himself into Yinyou’s arms with a smile, “Seventh brother, I’m wrong, haha, I’m wrong.”

Yinyou was worried that he would fall down, and stretched out one arm to hug him, poking the thirteenth brother’s soft belly with his other paw, he grinned, “If you dare to complain, I will scratch you hard next time.”

The eunuchs serving in the room all covered their mouth with their sleeves to hide their smile, and only the thirteenth brother was left yelling, “Seventh brother, I was wrong!”

“I just said why is the seventh brother’s yard so lively. It turns out that the seventh brother is bullying the thirteenth brother,” the eighth brother stood at the door, and glanced at Yinxiang who was twisting in Yinyou’s arms with a smile on his face, “What did the thirteenth brother do to make the seventh brother angry?”

Yinyou looked up and saw that the fifth elder brother was standing still behind the eighth brother. He let go of little thirteenth, adjusted his clothes, got up, and bowed to the two of them, “Fifth elder brother, eighth younger brother.”

The thirteenth brother also twisted his small chubby body like a dumpling and greeted the two elder brothers. The fifth elder brother and the eighth brother returned their greetings.

“It’s getting late, let’s go now,” the fifth elder brother glanced at the three younger brothers and spoke first as the elder brother.

Yinyou held the thirteenth brother’s hand and nodded with a smile.

The eighth brother glanced at Yinxiang, and seeing there was a smile on Yinyou’s face, said, “I didn't expect that the thirteenth brother would be earlier than us.”

(B: Yinsi was stolen his precious moment with his crush…)

The thirteenth nodded and said, “As the teacher said, the early bird has worms to eat.”

“Oh,” the eighth brother raised his eyebrows, “what about the worms that get up early?”

The thirteenth brother replied, “It doesn’t matter if the insect wakes up early or not, anyway, it will always be found by the birds and get eaten again.”

Yinyou glanced at the thirteenth brother, then at the eighth brother, with a look of doubt, “Eighth brother, thirteenth brother, you don’t eat bugs, there is no need to discuss this issue.”

“Since the seventh brother said so, the younger brother shall be obedient,” the eighth brother said with a smile. “Bugs, birds and the sort are really not suitable for seventh brother.”

Yinxiang who was being led by Yinyou nodded also spoke seriously, “It’s really not suitable for the seventh brother.” After speaking, he swept Yinyou a sympathetic glance.

The corner of Yinyou’s mouth twitched slightly. Being looked at by a seven-year-old child with such eyes, he felt indescribably complicated. Listen here, little thirteenth brother, you are ranked thirteenth, I’m not asking you to pretend to be dumb, but with your current skills, you have no chance of winning against the eighth brother. This elder brother is helping you out but you don’t appreciate it. Okay, it’s fine if you don’t appreciate it, but you still have to sympathize with my IQ! It’s really not cute at all.

(B: I’m guessing that the 8th brother and the 13th brother talk had a hidden meaning, and when Yinyou interrupted them, they responded by saying that their scheming talk was really not suitable for Yinyou, because he’s stupid. Another possibility could be, although I’m not sure if it’s my illusion but I feel like the two of them were fighting for Yinyou’s favor, as in, Yinyou is not suitable being compared to bugs, but they do were the birds fighting to get him first. Hmm. What do you guys think?)

Horses were not allowed to be freely in the street capital, but the four brothers were not ordinary people, so they each got into the sedan chair and rushed to the fourth brother’s house. Yinyou sat in his sedan chair, frowning tightly.

Judging by the eighth brother’s attitude, he must’ve marked the thirteenth brother as part of the Crown Prince’s faction. Then, after the unknown year where the Crown Prince was imprisoned, Yinxiang would began to tag along the Fourth Lord’s Party.

Sure enough, the longer Yinyou stayed here, the less he could treat these people indifferently, not to mention that thirteenth was the child he watched grow up. Now he could finally understand why the fourth brother treated him so well, seeing a person grow up with your own eyes would always make the feelings deeper. What’s more, Yinyou had been clinging to the fourth brother since he was one-year-old, and with the passing of the years, he had obtained a lot of good things from him.

When he rushed to the fourth brother’s house, a steward was waiting at the door. Seeing Yinyou and his party, the servant rushed up to greet them, “This minion greets the fifth elder brother, the seventh elder brother, the eighth brother, and the thirteenth elder brother, please come in!”

This was Yinyou first visit to Yinzhen’s mansion. He crossed the gate and looked around, the whole yard was neatly tidied up, and the mansion was decorated solemnly but without looking cheerless, this was quite in line with Yinzhen’s status as a prince.

Before they entered the inner courtyard, Yinzhen had already come out. He led them to the theater garden on the west side, the opera had already began and the actor was singing of his reluctance to part with his lover [3]. Inside there was the Crown Prince and others.

[3] 依依 yīyī - to regret leaving / reluctant to part / (onom.) young leaves stir gently in the wind. Baidu: “依依 is a Chinese word, pronounced yī yī, which means to be nostalgic and cannot bear to be separated. It describes the look of attachment. (...) It is taken from a famous sentence in «The Book of Songs»… Example: Raise your glass, the sky is wide, and the wine is warm. All ages are sad, they bowed their heads and cried. I also feel a little reluctant. (Excerpt from Feng Zikai’s «Sheltering from the Rain in the Mountains».)”

After paying their respects, Yinyou and the thirteenth brother stood beside the fifth elder brother, watching the brothers politely greet each other, and kept their silence firmly.

“Brother, why didn’t you come with us?” The ninth brother walked to Yinsi, throwing a glance at Yinyou and Yinxiang, “I heard that the fourth brother invited a famous opera troupe from the capital, let’s listen.” After speaking, the ninth brother and the tenth brother sat beside the eighth brother.

“Seventh brother, thirteenth brother,” Yinzhen came to them, led the two to sit on the other side, and handed them a catalog, “If you like one piece, just order it.” 

Yinyou took the booklet and nodded, disinterested. His hobby was never the opera, and he could only quote Sister Lin fell from the Sky [4], other opera pieces were lost on him.

[4] 天上掉下個林妹妹 Sister Lin fell from the Sky. Baidu: “This is a famous aria in the Yue opera Dream of the Red Chamber, sung by Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan. (...) The aria tells the story of how Lin Daiyu just came to Jia’s mansion and saw Jia Baoyu (...). During their mutual greetings, the two had a good impression of each other”. The Red Chamber is one of the four classic book for the Chinese culture. Basically, the aria Yinyou is speaking about is cultural knowledge, everyone should know about it. If you want to see how this aria is interpreted, here it is a realistic portrayal of it. But if you want a more modern sound, here’s a nice interpretation. If you search in Spotify & Youtube with the Chinese characters the song you will find many more interpretations.

Seeing that Yinyou was not interested, Yinzhen didn’t say anything else, and turned to deal with the other brothers.

The congratulatory gifts from the concubines in the harem, the rewards from Kangxi, and the gifts from the court officials were continuously sent to the fourth brother’s mansion. In fact, the gifts from these officials were all the same, neither light nor heavy, without losing their status as ministers, and without giving people the illusion of forming a clique with the fourth brother, after all, today’s banquet was just a small gathering between the imperial brothers in the name of promoting brotherhood, the officials would not be so foolish as to create misunderstandings.

Yinyou propped his head up, listening to the resentful singing on the stage, wishing he could fall asleep right away. It wasn’t until Yinzhen mentioned dining that he managed to pull himself together.

Yinyou’s move made several brothers laugh again.

Looking at Yinyou’s still smiling face, Yinzhen slowly moved his eyes away.

After the meal, the brothers left one after another. Even the thirteenth was sent back to the palace forcibly by Yinzhen because of his young age, and the other brothers were also sent to the door one by one by Yinzhen.

Yinsi was escorted out together with the ninth and tenth brothers. On his right was the silent Yinzhen. Thinking of the seventh brother who was still in the fourth brother's house, he smiled and gently said, “The seventh brother doesn’t seem to like to listen to operas.”

Yinzhen’s eyebrows moved slightly, and replied, “There’s a possibility.”

“Younger brother doesn’t know whether the seventh brother will return to the palace today. If it’s past the imperial curtfew, should the younger brother ask for him a leave?” Yinsi questioned with a gentle smile.

Yinzhen raised his eyes and looked at Yinsi’s smiling face, but his face remained unruffled, “In that case, I’ll trouble the eighth younger brother.”

Yinsi was still smiling like a spring breeze, “Doing such a small thing for my seventh brother,  how could it be troublesome?”

Yinzhen spoke his words out slowly, “As the elder brother, it is also appropriate to thank the younger brother.”

Just as they walked out of the gate at this moment, the eighth brother smiled and said, “It’s okay for the fourth brother to send us until here, please tell the seventh brother not to worry about his homework, the younger brother will help him take notes.”

Yinzhen replied with a salute, “Eighth younger brother walk slowly, ninth brother and tenth brother walk slowly.” 

Seeing the three of them getting into the sedan chair, Yinzhen turned and went back quickly. Behind him, the steward hurriedly followed.

Back in his personal yard, the person that was squatting by the flower garden had disappeared. Yinzhen frowned, and asked the little servant boy who was cleaning the yard, “Where is the seventh brother?”

“Inside the house.”

In the entire Mansion, no one dared to step into the fourth prince’s yard casually, much less the house. Even the Gege who was bestowed by the Consort De couldn’t enter the master’s yard. But the seventh brother wanted to enter the master’s house, and no one dared to stop him. Thinking of this, the boy shrank his shoulders.

“Understood, you go down,” Yinzhen walked into the house, the maid waiting at the door opened the curtain for him, and after entering the door, Yinzhen couldn’t help laughing.

The weather had warmed up recently, and people would get sleepy after lunch. When Yinyou entered Yinzhen’s bedroom, he wasn’t polite, he simply took off his shoes and leaned on the soft couch, and fell asleep unknowingly.

Yinzhen went to the soft couch, sat down, and shook Yinyou’s shoulder, “Seventh brother, wake up, don’t sleep here, you will catch a cold, you have to sleep on my bed.”

Feeling someone shaking him, Yinyou struggled to open one eye, “Fourth brother…” He took out a small object from his arms in a daze, stuffed it into Yinzhen’s hand, then put his head on Yinzhen’s knee, and dozed off to sleep again.

It was a lucky sachet! [6]

Yinzhen looked at the small sandalwood-flavored sachet embroidered with some blessing characters in his hand. This kind of sachet was used to pray for blessings.  After it was embroidered, one had to go to the Buddha for several consecutive days to burn incense and ask the Buddha for blessings. He didn’t expect that the seventh brother would gift him this.

The sachet was bulging and soft, Yinzhen smiled, and reached out to pat Yinyou’s back, “Seventh brother, did you ask for this, especially for me?” 

“Don’t make noise,” Yinyou twisted impatiently in his lap, muttering in a daze, “The Buddhist hall in the palace was full of women, I was so ashamed.”

The smile on the face of someone who was scolded to be quiet couldn’t be suppressed no matter what.

______________

▲ Footnotes 

[1] 清穿 qīngchuān. Fiction novels where the protagonist transmigrates to the Qing Dynasty. This novel has this etiquette in the Chinese title.

[2] 妃 fēi Consort. In the real Chinese history, according to Wikipedia: “Concubine Min died in Wulong Pavilion in Beihai. In July of that year, the Kangxi Emperor instructed the Minister of Ritual to promote Concubine Min to Consort Min (敏妃) posthumously. (...) On the twenty-sixth of the first month of the first year of Yongzheng, Emperor Yongzheng instructed the ministry of rites to posthumously appoint Consort Min as Dowager Imperial Noble Consort (皇考皇贵妃).” So in reality, Zhang Jia wasn’t favored, but in this novel she is.

[3] 依依 yīyī - to regret leaving / reluctant to part / (onom.) young leaves stir gently in the wind. Baidu: “依依 is a Chinese word, pronounced yī yī, which means to be nostalgic and cannot bear to be separated. It describes the look of attachment. (...) It is taken from a famous sentence in «The Book of Songs»… Example: Raise your glass, the sky is wide, and the wine is warm. All ages are sad, they bowed their heads and cried. I also feel a little reluctant. (Excerpt from Feng Zikai’s «Sheltering from the Rain in the Mountains».)”

[4] 天上掉下個林妹妹 Sister Lin fell from the Sky. Baidu: “This is a famous aria in the Yue opera Dream of the Red Chamber, sung by Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan. (...) The aria tells the story of how Lin Daiyu just came to Jia’s mansion and saw Jia Baoyu (...). During their mutual greetings, the two had a good impression of each other”. The Red Chamber is one of the four classic book for the Chinese culture. Basically, the aria Yinyou is speaking about is cultural knowledge, everyone should know about it. If you want to see how this aria is interpreted, here it is a realistic portrayal of it. But if you want a more modern sound, here’s a nice interpretation. If you search in Spotify & Youtube with the Chinese characters the song you will find many more interpretations.

[6] 祈福香囊. Baidu: “A sachet containing spices. It is worn on the body or hung on the tent as an ornament. Because most of the exotic spices came from foreign tributes, the imperial court also used sachets as rewards. Because the sachet was a portable thing, lovers often give it to each other as a gift to express their affection, and it was an usual token of love.”